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Down the hatch
A review of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

 I want Mary Roach at my dinner party. Actually no, I think I would want Mary Roach to show up after my dinner party; inviting her beforehand will virtually guarantee that no one will eat. Roach, who has made her name investigating the more obscure corners of scientific research, has turned her attention to that mostly unfamiliar, yet most intimate portion of us: the gut. In Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, Roach goes where only gastroenterologists have trod from tongue to ...read more

Reviewed by Katie H. on April 11, 2013 | 0 comments

A haunting tale of love through the centuries
A review of Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

 It takes a pretty spectacular writer to combine vampires, love at first sight, and reincarnation in a teen novel and still come up with something fresh and original, but that's exactly what Marcus Sedgwick has done in his new book, Midwinterblood. This collection of seven linked stories begins in the year 2073, when loner journalist Eric Seven is sent to investigate a colony on the remote northern Blessed Island, where the inhabitants are rumored to have discovered an elixir of ...read more

Reviewed by Kylee on April 9, 2013 | 0 comments
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Feminism in reverse? No way!
A review of The Six Sisters series by Marion Chesney

 I have been listening to an entertaining Regency romance series about six marriageable sisters while I fold laundry. Their father is a country vicar with money woes and he manages to marry off his daughters to ever richer husbands in order to sustain his expensive hunting habits. Each of the six Armitage daughters gets her own novel and although I'm only on book four, each book has ended in a happy marriage so far. I suspect that all six do. I'll be very disappointed if they don't. Between the ...read more

Reviewed by Molly - Central on April 9, 2013 | 0 comments

The meaning of friendship
Two New Thrillers

I have a couple of new thrillers to tell you about today. The first is a debut by Koethi Zan and the second is the fifth in a series by Linda Castillo. And while I'm calling them thrillers, I classify them as both thriller and mystery on my Goodreads shelf. I think tone and pacing make them thrillers but each is a solid mystery as well. The Never List by Koethi Zan is dark and twisty from the very first ...read more

Reviewed by Jane J - Central on April 8, 2013 | 0 comments

To celebrate National Poetry Month...
A review of Guyku by Bob Raczka

 In honor of National Poetry Month, join the fun and check out a creative collection of haiku, especially for boys! In Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka and Peter H. Reynolds, we read through the seasons as boys catch grasshoppers, make zipping and clanking bikes, and wait expectantly for snow days. Illustrations are sparse and match the text of each haiku. Many will make you smile, such as: “If this puddle could/talk, I think it would tell me/to splash my sister,” or, “I ...read more

Reviewed by Tracy on April 5, 2013 | 0 comments

Love at first sight
A review of And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake by Elizabeth Boyle

 How do you find love when you live in a village that has been cursed? A village where the ladies have no prospects and no possibility of traveling to London to find a husband. Elizabeth Boyle’s wonderful new Regency series “Rhymes with Love” tells the love stories of a group of friends who come from such a place. The first love story was detailed in Along Came a Duke, the story of Miss Tabitha ...read more

Reviewed by Kathy K. - Central on April 4, 2013 | 0 comments

The woman who sounded the warning
A review of On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson by William Souder

 A little over fifty years ago, there was a revolution in American culture. Its lead instigator was a scientist, and the weapons were words—or rather, a book called Silent Spring. At first glance, author Rachel Carson seemed like a mild-mannered government worker, a woman who excelled at teasing out hard facts from scientific works and converting it into elegant prose. She had already climbed the bestseller lists with her eloquent depictions of ocean and beach ecologies, winning the ...read more

Reviewed by Katie H. on April 3, 2013 | 0 comments

Baseball Fans: Opening Day is Here
New Baseball books

Hey baseball fans opening day is here, so why not check out some of the new baseball books that are out or coming out. 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die by Ron Kaplan American Jews & America's ...read more

Reviewed by Kathy K. - Central on March 29, 2013 | 0 comments

It’s about pickles, not pranks. Yep. Really.
A review of PICKLE by Kimberly Baker

 The first thing you need to realize about pickle making is that it is serious business. Pickling has a long and illustrious history in the food preservation industry. Pssst! Are all of the grown-ups gone? They are? Great. Then we can let you in on a secret. The League of Pickle Makers is really a cover for the newest club at Fountain Point Middle School—the P.T.A. (Pranks and Trick Association). The club was started by me, Ben Ruiz, and we only do pranks that are funny or fun and not mean. If ...read more

Reviewed by Carissa - Alicia Ashman on March 29, 2013 | 0 comments

Let's whittle our wardrobes down to 10 items! Who's with me?
A review of Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned while Living in Paris by Jennifer L. Scott

 The Huffington Post recently published an article about the 10-Item Capsule Wardrobe and at the time I read the article I thought, no way, man! I can't do that and I don't want to! Then I read about the idea again in the book Lessons from Madame Chic written by The Daily Connoisseur blogger, Jennifer ...read more

Reviewed by Molly - Central on March 28, 2013 | 0 comments
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